Review Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm

According provided by lens Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm many thanks to the reader of Radozhiva - Vladimir Pivovarov.

Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm

Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm is a very simple telezoom for film cameras with a M42x1 / 45.5 mounting thread. Popularly, such lenses are called 'Noname' ('without a name'). Externally, Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm is similar to the same little-known Beroflex Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm and Sun Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm and is most likely a copy of them under a different brand. The lens has a constant maximum aperture F / 4.5 over the entire range of focal lengths. The F / 4.5 value is only 1.55 times (half a step) lighter than the F / 5.6 of the darker counterparts.

By itself, the Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm is an outwardly very strange lens that has 4 parts with rubberized inserts. The part between the aperture control ring and the zoom ring is decorative. The lens is well assembled, in the hands it looks like a metal baton.

Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm uses internal zoom (does not change size when changing the focal length), and also has a fixed rear lens (does not move during focusing and changing the focal length). During focusing, the front of the lens rotates and, together with the focus ring, travels forward. The focus ring rotates 250 degrees.

The zoom ring is narrow and rotates very, very easily, during focusing it can be easily touched and knock down the set magnification. But the aperture ring is wide, wider than most other similar lenses. All rings are rubberized and pleasant to the touch. Due to the fact that it seems that there are already 4 pieces of rings, you need to get used to their management, at first I often confused them.

Main technical characteristics of Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm

On a full-length mirrorless camera Sony a7 I used the lens without any problems with adapter M42-NEX.

How to use with modern cameras?

Lenses with mounting thread M42 (M42 X 1 / 45.5), such as the lens from this review, are very easy to use on almost any modern digital camera (both SLR and mirrorless), for this it is enough to choose the right adapter (adapter). You do not need to carry out any additional steps to modify the lens.

The cheapest adapters can be found at Aliexpress.com... There are adapters (adapters) with a chip that provide more convenience during shooting, usually chips are used to confirm focus and / or metering exposure, and form the correct EXIF. The chip does not affect the image quality in any way.

For some SLR cameras (for example, with the Nikon F-mount), you need to use adapters with a corrective lens, which allows you to focus correctly at all focusing distances. For any mirrorless cameras, such a lens is not needed, and the adapter is a simple decorated hollow metal tube with an appropriate mount.

For SLR cameras

1. Canon: For cameras Canon EOS with bayonet mount EF / EF-S need an M42-Canon EOS adapter, such an adapter with a chip can be found herewithout chip here.
2. NIKON: For cameras Nikon DX / FXas well as for cameras Fujifilm и Kodak with a Nikon F mount, you need an M42-Nikon F adapter, you can buy such an adapter without a lens and a chip here, with a lens without a chip herewith chip without lens here, with lens and chip here. Why a lens? Why chip?
3. PENTAX: For Pentax cameras with K mount, you need an M42-Pentax K adapter, you can buy such an adapter here.
4. SONY/MINOLTA: For cameras with a Sony / Minolta A mount, you need the M42-Sony A adapter, you can find such an adapter without a chip at this linkwith a chip at this link.
5. OLYMPUS/PANASONIC/LEICA: For cameras with a 4/3 bayonet mount (not to be confused with Micro 4/3!) You need an M42-4 / 3 adapter, you can buy such an adapter here.

For mirrorless cameras

1. SONY: For cameras with 'E'/'FE' mount series SonyNEX и Sony Alpha you need an adapter M42-Sony E (aka M42-Sony Nex), you can find it at this link. An autofocus adapter is also available for these cameras. Techart PRO Leica M - Sony E Autofocus Adapterwhich can be found at this link.
2. OLYMPUS / PANASONIC / KODAK / XIAOMI: For cameras with a bayonet mount Micro 4/3 (Micro 4:3) you need an adapter M42-Micro 4/3, you can find it at this link.
3. CANON M: For cameras with Canon EF-M mount need adapter M42-Canon M, it can be found at this link.
4. CANON R and RF-S: For cameras with Canon RF mount need adapter M42-Canon R, it can be found at this link.
5. Nikon 1: For cameras Nikon 1 Series need adapter M42-Nikon 1, you can find it at this link.
6. Nikon Z: For cameras Nikon Z series (FX/DX) need an adapter M42-Nikon Z, it can be found at this link.
7. FUJIFILM X: For cameras with mount X need an M42-Fuji X adapter, you can find it at this link.
8. FUJIFILM GFX: For medium format cameras G-mount need M42-Fuji GFX adapter, you can find it at this link.
9. SAMSUNG: For cameras with NX mount, you need an M42-Samsung NX adapter, you can find it at this link. There are no adapters for the NX mini camera yet.
10. PENTAX: For Q-mount cameras, you need an M42-Pentax Q adapter, you can find it at this link.
11. SIGMA / PANASONIC / LEICA: For cameras with L mount you need an M42-Leica L adapter, you can find it at this link.
12. LEICA: For cameras with a bayonet mount Leica M need adapter M42-L / M, you can find it at this link.

If you have any questions on compatibility and adapters - ask in the comments (comments do not require any registration at all).

Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm

Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm

Image quality

Lens very weak... It has mediocre sharpness at wide apertures, especially at the 210mm focal length. Sharpness 'floats' as the focal length changes. Sharpness gets better at f / 8.0, but still getting good sharpness with a lens is nearly impossible. Also, the picture from the lens is clogged with chromatic aberrations at any aperture value.

Most likely, Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm uses a very simple enlightenment, which makes you afraid of backlight like fire. Even in side light, the lens manages to fill half of the picture with white shroud. Perhaps the use of at least some kind of hood will help in this matter. Lens gives low contrast and a faded picture.

A small number of aperture blades also negatively affects image quality. On open apertures, the background blur is simple, and, in general, quite pleasant.

You can download RAW source files by this link (32 files in the '.ARW' format 724 MB). All photos in the gallery above are on-camera JPEG from the camera Sony a7.

Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm

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Results

The Carenar Auto Zoom F / 4.5 85-210mm lens is perfectly assembled, with an interesting body design, internal zoom and constant aperture over the entire range of focal lengths. But the image quality of the lens did not work out.

Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram